Perhaps
the most accomplished of the female
dancing stars was Cyd Charisse:
Born Tula Finklea, she was known for her
discipline and elegant precision. (We
can’t imagine her body ever NOT doing what
she demanded of it.)
Nowhere
is her talent better displayed than in the
movie “Silk Stockings,” a musical version
of the Greta Garbo comedy “Ninotchka”:
The only chink in Charisse’s “armor” was
that she didn’t have a lot of stamina. She
could only perform for short bursts of
time before her energy flagged.
This often called for frequent editing
cuts in her dance numbers, like in this
Eugene Loring-choreographed number which
shows Charisse at her very best:
Cyd’s
“stamina deficit” may have also dictated a
few cuts in her dance numbers with Fred
Astaire in "The Bandwagon."
Fred famously wanted all of his dances
filmed and shown in one continuous
take. Edits or not, this number,
co-choreographed by Astaire and Michael
Kidd, is perfection:
Speaking
of perfection, here are some of the lovely
things that we’re featuring from our
website today:
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